Chitra Divankaruni’s Oleander Girl

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s latest novel, “Oleander Girl,” is about a headstrong and charismatic young Indian woman coming to terms with her life and trying to find herself in post 9/11 America.

Korobi is the star of the book, which was released in North America on March 19. Korobi is Bengali for oleander, a beautiful yet poisonous plant.

“I wanted to write a book about the important of tolerance—tolerance for people who look different, have different religions and ideologies,” said Ms. Divakaruni, an award-winning author of over 15 novels and short stories.

“Oleander Girl” is set in 2002, a little after 9/11 and during the Godhra riots in Gujarat: “two horrific events… rising out of intolerance,” says Ms. Divakaruni.

“She (Korobi) is not like anyone I know, and in some intrinsic ways, she is different from the women in my other books. I wanted to create a character who would embody the clash between the old and new India, someone both vulnerable and strong,” Ms. Divakaruni said.

The author says “Oleander Girl” was one her most difficult novels as she was trying to write the story of an individual – Korobi – in a way that mirrored a particular juncture in the life of a country, India.

Ms. Divakaruni’s novels all have strong female leads, such as Panchali in one of her most popular books, “The Palace of Illusions,” which recounts the Mahabharata from a woman’s perspective.

She added that she is studying Hindu epic the Ramayana. “That’s my next project: to write a novel that re-imagines that epic, narrated by Sita, one of the major women characters.”

Murthy Divakaruni

Author of ‘Oleander Girl,’ Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Ms. Divakaruni’s books have been translated into 29 languages, and two — “The Mistress of Spices” and “Sister of My Heart — have been made into films. She has written books for audiences of all ages. For example, “Grandma and the Great Gourd,” which was also published this month, is based on a Bengali folktale and targets younger readers aged five-to-eight.

“Each book is a separate entity for me. When I’m writing it, I enter its world and inhabit its vocabulary. I forget, as it were, that I ever wrote anything else. I have a lot of respect and love for children’s books,” Ms. Divakaruni told India Real Time.

When her first book, a collection of short stories titled “Arranged Marriage,” was published in 1995, there were just a handful of Indian American authors. The field has grown dramatically, challenging writers to be more exclusive in their approach.

“It’s never really easy to be successful as a writer when you’re trying to write literary fiction. You’ve already limited your readership limited by that choice,” Ms. Divakaruni said.

“As I’ve written more, and as other Indian American voices have grown around me, I strive harder to find experiences that are unique yet a meaningful and resonant part of the American story,” she added.

Visi R. Tilak is freelance writer with bylines in publications such as the Boston Globe, Indian Express, India Today and Tehelka. She can be reached via email visitilak@gmail.com, her website www.visitilak.com or on Twitter @vtilak.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.